For The Guys: How To Make Your Sperm More Powerful

Passing along the woman’s reproductive tract to get to the egg is like a human swimming the Pacific Ocean, hence your sperm needs strength!

The meat, along with eggs and fruit including watermelon, contain essential building blocks to give sperm the energy it needs for the epic journey to the egg.

Fertility expert Zita West reveals the secrets to healthier sperm in her new book Eat Yourself Pregnant: Essential Recipes for Boosting Your Fertility Naturally (extracts below).

She explains that men should ensure their diet provides a good intake of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc, and vitamins B12 and C. The protein found in fish, poultry and red meat, and dairy products are an excellent fuel source.

Sperm needs a host of nutrients to have the best chance of survival.

BEST FOODS FOR SPERM

Foods containing the amino acids L-arginine, L-carnitine and L-lysine are all important.

Those rich in proteins including L-arginine are fish, poultry and red meat, and dairy products.

Once in the body, this amino acid helps to produce nitric oxide, which dilates blood vessels and improves circulation.

Testes hang outside the body because sperm is damaged by heat. Therefore, Zita West advises that men avoid excessive time in jacuzzis, wearing tight underwear and on heated car seats. Mobile phones in pockets and laptops on laps will also raise the temperature of testes.

Trans fats, like those found in takeaway food, alcohol and smoking will have a negative impact on sperm health.

THE SPERM JOURNEY

It takes around 100 days altogether for each sperm to become fully grown – 74 days for a single sperm to develop, before it moves from the tubules into a coiled tube called the epididymis, where it spends 20 to 30 days maturing.

Over that time, what a man eats and the lifestyle choices he makes can have their own impact on how healthy each and every one of his sperm will be. Sperm needs enormous amounts of energy.

Think of the scale of the journey they undertake relative to their size. From inside the scrotal sac, they are propelled out of the penis into the woman. Eggs contain amino acids, the proteins that are the building blocks for healthy sperm